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now teenagers who are getting into their own relationships.”
And while Andrew Tate is no longer holding sway with young boys in the same way he used to, “his message is still there even though he’s not the face of it anymore. There are so many others and so much content that’s geared towards misogyny. Homophobia is making a big comeback and transphobia is a growing issue. “Kids are being taught intolerance, but hopefully with my books they can have discussions around empathy and kindness, which I think is a way to lead a much better life. I do tell them that they’re not going to be happy if they walk around moaning about women and transgender people; they’re going to lead happy lives if they’re kind and tolerant and accepting of people who are different.
“I do think toxic masculinity is going to get worse. While that is the case, I’ll keep writing about the things that I see in here. The fact that empathy is so important and the fact that books are a way of teaching empathy… I’m quite proud to be contributing to a bit more of a positive influence.”
There is an irony that Nathanael is now writing for, and connecting with, an audience that is apparently reading less than ever before. Research shows that reading for pleasure amongst boys is at an all-time low, and Nathanael admits that he would likely be among that cohort of reluctant readers.
“With reading, I did drop off. I had quite a low reading age and I was someone who
Anyone lacking confidence in reading, I would say keep practicing and you will get better. I had a low reading age and now I write books for a living.
had to get dragged out of lessons to do extra reading – which I do tell students now on school visits. Anyone lacking confidence in reading, I would say keep practicing and you will get better. I had a low reading age and now I write books for a living.” A brief resurgence in his reading habits coincided with the discovery of Malorie Blackman’s books, which “made it cool again”. But the real turning point arrived at university where “I had to read, and that just opened my mind so much. We read lots of American Gothic, lots of poetry and I fell in love with it again.” That rekindled love affair has led to Steady For This, King of Nothing,What Happens Online and a new series for younger readers, which kicked off with Solving Crimes is Not My Superpower earlier this year. Nathanael says that each of his first three books are “very different tonally”. “They’ve all got very strong narrative voices, but they’re also very different voices. Steady For This was based on my younger self, I lived with my aunt who used to call me Tete en l’air, which is French for head in the clouds. This was the main inspiration behind the voice of Grouse, who was the main character in that book. “My mum used to love Laurel and Hardy and I watched a lot of Laurel and Hardy films – I thought if I’ve got this kind of head in the clouds character, a good bit of comedy is to have a serious character for him to play off. That’s where Siobhan came in, who’s another main character in that book. She’s quite streetwise in a way that he’s not. And so, I had this head in the clouds character who was juxtaposed with Siobhan.
“For my next book, my publishers said to me ‘rather than a sequel, we want you to do something completely different’. And so I thought ‘what’s the opposite of Grouse?’ And the answer to that was, someone who is cynical and sarcastic. “The comedy there was, we need to play him off against someone who is the opposite of cynical and sarcastic. And that’s where the character of Matthew came in. So, it’s playing these two off against each other – one who is cynical and sarcastic and the other who’s quite soft and unapologetically himself.” “Then in What Happens Online, Fred is very different to the first two in that he’s quite tragic and self-deprecating. They’re all very different, but the thing that connects them I think is this urgent need for kindness.”
The move to his Superpowers series (a second book, Time Travel is Not My Superpower is out now) required
Autumn-Winter 2025
a different approach, and Nathanael says that the support he received from collaborative publishers was a big help. “With teen books I’m able to write about the real world and I’m able to parrot back to them in a way that’s hopefully fun. Whereas for fighting crime and having superpowers my only reference point was the comic books that I read growing up and it was like writing with the hand breaks off. “I was always told don’t write down to your audience. I was writing for teenagers, and they’re intelligent and creative and they have the same sense of humour. Write for yourself and they’ll be there. And I quickly learned that for the younger age, it was a similar thing – awful puns and fart jokes and terrible superpowers.” Nathanael’s next project sees him revisit his own past, and relationship with a cousin who lived with the family when he was a teenager. Nathanael says: “My mum’s African and everyone’s a cousin even if they’re not blood relations. My cousin was eccentric. He was a laugh, he was one of those people you couldn’t really take him out in public, and I found him hilarious. He also was a little bit of trouble, he always wanted to fight, and he was always in your face, and it was a very strange time having him in the house, but we loved him.
“The book is based on the loveliest parts of having my cousin around in those early teenager years. So that’s the one I’m working on now, and it should be out in May 2026.” PEN&INC
PEN&INC. 23
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